Listening A1: Genesis Chapter 1 - Genesis 42

Jacob saw there was food in Egypt.

Jacob said to his sons, "Why are you looking at each other?"

He said, "I heard there is food in Egypt.

Go there and buy food for us so we can live and not die."

Joseph's ten brothers went to Egypt to buy food.

Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph's brother, with them.

He said, "I am afraid something bad will happen to him."

The sons of Israel went to the people who came there, because the land of Canaan had no food.

Joseph was the ruler of the land, and he sold food to all the people there.

Joseph's brothers came, and they bowed down to him with their faces on the ground.

Joseph saw his brothers and knew them, but he acted like he did not know them.

He spoke harshly to them and said, "Where do you come from?"

They said, "We come from the land of Canaan to buy food."

Joseph knew his brothers, but they did not know him.

Joseph remembered the dreams he had of them.

He said to them, "You are spies.

You have come to see the weakness of the land."

They answered, "No, sir.

We have come to buy food.

We are all sons of one man.

We are true men.

We are not spies."

He said again, "No.

You came to see the weakness of the land."

They said, "We are twelve brothers, sons of one man in the land of Canaan.

The youngest is with our father today, and one brother is not here."

Joseph said, "That is why I told you that you were spies.

Now you will be tested.

By the life of Pharaoh, you will not leave here unless your youngest brother comes here."

"Send one of you to bring your brother.

You will be tied up so your words can be checked.

Then I will know if you tell the truth.

If not, by the life of Pharaoh, you are spies."

He put them all in prison for three days.

On the third day Joseph said to them, "Do this and live, for I fear God.

If you are true men, leave one of your brothers in my prison house.

Go, take food for your homes.

Bring your youngest brother to me.

Then your words will be true, and you will not die."

They did what he said.

They said to each other, "We are guilty about our brother.

We saw that he was sad when he asked us, and we did not listen.

That is why this trouble came."

Reuben said, "Did I not tell you not to hurt the boy?

But you did not listen.

So now his blood is needed."

They did not know that Joseph could understand them because there was an interpreter at their side.

He turned away from them and cried.

Then he came back and spoke to them.

He took Simeon from among them and tied him in front of them.

Joseph told them to fill their sacks with food.

He told them to put each man's money back in his sack.

He told them to take food for the road.

This is what was done.

They loaded their donkeys with food and left.

One man opened his sack to give food to his donkey in the place where they stayed.

He saw his money and it was in the mouth of his sack.

He said to his brothers, "My money is back.

See, it is in my sack."

Their hearts were afraid, and they looked at each other with fear.

They said, "What is this that God has done to us?"

They came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan and told him all that had happened.

They said, "The man, the ruler of the land, spoke harshly to us and thought we were spies.

We told him, ‘We are true men.

We are not spies.

We are twelve brothers, sons of our father.

One is missing, and the youngest is with our father in the land of Canaan.'

The man, the ruler of the land, said, ‘This is how I will know you are true men.

Leave one brother with me and take food for your homes, and go.

Bring your youngest brother to me.

Then I will know you are not spies but true men.

I will send back your brother and you can sell food in the land.'"

As they opened their sacks, everyone saw his money.

When they and their father saw the money, they were afraid.

Jacob said, "You have taken my children away from me.

Joseph is not here, and Simeon is not here.

Now you want to take Benjamin away.

All these things make me sad."

Reuben said to his father, "Kill my two sons if I do not bring him back to you.

Give him to me, and I will bring him back."

Jacob said, "My son must not go down with you.

His brother is dead, and he is the only one left.

If something bad happens to him on the way, I will die in sadness."